Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili said he told Ukrainian leadership that their close ties with Georgia’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili and his allies, as well as appointing some former Georgian officials in the Ukrainian government, was damaging bilateral relations.
“People, who are wanted by us [authorities in Georgia] have settled comfortably in the Ukraine government. I think, it will be damaging for the Ukrainian government itself, and its image,” Garibashvili told journalists on December 20 in Samtredia, where he attended opening of a greenhouse farm, launched by a Georgian-Dutch joint venture.
“Ukrainian people are very dear to us; we support the Ukrainian government. But actions like this – and I personally spoke with President Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and told them directly that such actions damage our relations,” the PM said.
“I cannot explain to the Georgian people why Adeishvili, who is wanted by the Georgian authorities through the Interpol’s red notice and who was one of the architects of the criminal regime… might be appointed in government of our friendly Ukraine,” Garibashvili said. There have been unconfirmed reports about Adeishvili being considered as a possible candidate for head of Ukraine’s anti-corruption council.
The PM said that the same goes for Eka Zguladze, who, he said, was “one of the justifiers of that [Saakashvili’s] regime for years”, and Alexander Kvitashvili, who, the PM said, “actually destroyed the Georgian healthcare system.”
Zguladze, who was Georgia’s deputy interior minister in 2006-2012, has been appointed as first deputy interior minister of Ukraine on December 17, after President Poroshenko granted her Ukrainian citizenship.
Kvitashvili, who was Georgia’s healthcare minister in 2008-2010, took the same post in Ukraine on December 2.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)